“Elect me. I cost Virginia money for offering Attorney General opinions advising power companies that they could ignore Clean Air/Water regulations on nuclear cooling safety standards.”

or

“I’m Bob McDonnell. I’ll pretend like I’m going to slash taxes and not actually do it because that’s stupid when our schools and roads are in disrepair and we have a budget shortfall due to a global recession. But I’ll cut them anyway and we can watch our lawsuits skyrocket as drivers succumb to the effects of tire-busting potholes. Privatizing ABC? It may only provide us with less than 1% revenues needed for obligations but no one needs to know that. Gilmore was a genius; our finances just refused to acknowledge it.”

What a plan Creigh has. The general fund is off limits to VDOT, therefore he must raise taxes. Gotta keep spending nearly half of the general fund on education, even though education has been overfunded by Kaine and Warner, as evidenced by the increase in per pupil spending from $6,985 to $11,037 under their watch.

“Elect me and I’ll make sure women wished they never earned that degree and job.”

I suspect that, like Deeds, that’s all you have…being without any real plans or anything.
That particular line won’t wash anymore. Maybe you’ve heard — he has a daughter that has done more manly stuff than you.

To be frank, GENTLEMEN, we face tax increases from new revenue sources –such as selling off VA ABC — or from a combination of less robust new sources and general tax hikes if we hope to repair roads, bridges and transit lines and hope to keep the doors of our schools open or, at the very least, keep them from falling off their hinges. It takes revenue. We’re fortunate to have the fiscal discipline to have just been named for the fourth year in a row as the best state in which to do business. This gives us a foot up on everyone else but doesn’t necessarily mean that we can allow infrastructure and basic services to crumble to the ground. However you look at it, revenue increases require tax increases. The loss of a state-run “asset” such as VA ABC negates a need for further raised revenues to fill in the gap of what was earned from that particular enterprise. The need for revenue to fill in that gap, on the other hand, isn’t a one-time obligation; we have to meet that void every year. I imagine that will include tax increases. I’m not against the proposition itself if prices can be contained but I also won’t argue that it’s the best solution or even a big portion of a solution to our transportation/budget woes.

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“IBOB – the per pupil spending numbers are from the VDOE superintendent’s reports”
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I won’t dispute your #s, Fed. It’s your assertion that “education has been overfunded” as a result of the increses with which I have a problem.
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A 58% increase over 8 years works out to less than 6% per year, hardly excessive. In fact, inflation rose at an annual rate of 2.83% over the period, accounting for almost half of the increase.
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I disagree with your premise, Fed. I have no problem with a 2 – 3% year-over-year increase in real per-pupil spending.

6% a year is unsustainable when you consider the effects of compounding. Coupled with enrollment increases, it’s the main reason the state is near bankruptcy and there’s no money for roads. 2 to 3 percentage points over inflation does not sound excessive, but it is.

I do not agree that we should short-change education to fix the roads. An annual 2 to 3% increase in per-pupil expenditures is excessive because…you say so? Our state-wide per-pupil expenditures rank VA 17th nationally. While you might not like the amount we spend, it’s clearly NOT excessive.
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I think we’ll have to agree to disagree on this point, Fed, ’cause I don’t see it your way, and you don’t see it mine.

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